Would you guys consider spearfishing to be a type of hunting?

When I moved down to SW Florida, I found hunting opportunites to be very scarce. So, I took up spearfishing. I loved it. However, now that I'm older and the with price of fuel to get out 20+ miles offshore (what it takes here to get to good water) plus the price to maintain a dive boat meant an end to my spearing days.
 
Buzz, In many locales, the speargun is fine. In much of our waters, a speargun+spinys= big dern fines... A joke in the keys is the locals calling a 36 inch spear gun "the keys tickle stick":D Goes along with... "you can tell when a local is low on money cuz he is eating fresh lobsters... when he is dead broke, the dog is eating fresh lobster...":eek:;)
I consider every form of prey gathering to be hunting...
Actually, I have had harder luck targeting certain critters from the water than from the woods...
Brent
 
I love to spear for flounder and halibut on the surfline in San Diego. And for Sheephead in a bit deeper water. Stalking a big sheephead is just as much fun as stalking a deer in my book.
 
Oh, these were taken with a combination of a pole spear and gaff hooks.

A pole spear is just a long stick with a rubber tubing at one end and a sharp tip (a single tip or three prongs tip called a "paralyzer" tip) at the other.

What you do is place the rubber band in the pocket of your thumb and forefinger and then pull the pole back so that your hand is now holding the pole close to the sharp tip, with the rubber band being very taut. When you want to spear something, you simply point at it and let go of the spear, so the rubber band shoots it forward at high speed.

Same idea as a speargun in a way, but no trigger. Almost like the diff b/t a bow and a crossbow...

Very light, quick, extremely fast to "charge" and to "reload", great all around. But not as powerful, and therefore not as effective on large, powerful fish.

Lots of great sprearfishing on the shipwrecks here in New York...I bagged a 22.5 inch black seabass once (which is a monster), and a 40 inch conger eel later the same day...stalking them and then fighting them underwater was a total rush, especially the eel. I speared it in the gills, and then also stabbed it with a wide, double edged knife, and it still fought me for at least 3 minutes before I could stuff it in the net and close it...
 
Hawaiian sling is what we called the "pole spear"... Very lethal in competent hands... Not mine though... I was mediocre at best but am not a scuba diver nor like the pressure on my head no matter what technique I used to equalize... 8 feet is my comfortable depth and not long there... I prefer to surface swim in snorkel and point out "lobs" to the others.... Gotta earn my share somehow!:D:o
Brent
 
hogdogs, I've seen a diffrent version of it that sometimes people call a hawaiian sling, which came in two parts: one was a block of wood or plastic that held the rubber band and it had a center hole in it thru which the heavy spear shaft was inserted and plalced on the band and pulled back...when fired, you would still hold on to the block and the spear would be shot loose, like an arrow...

Is that the version you mean? From what I've seen it's a little bit harder to use...

Or is the one I decribed earlier the type you mean?

And have you tried maybe decongestants before you dive, like 12 hour sudafed? Non drowsy, and clears you up really well if you take it a couple of hours before...
 
Ours were fiberglass rod with cord to bands, no block... but it had a 3 wire tip with each of the 1/8th to 3/16th rods barbed. they splayed out several degrees each way...
I used a 5-6 footer from the surface... I could duck dive to 6 feet and nail a "Lane" snapper etc. in 13 feet or so...
Not real spectacular but putting fillets on the grill was the objective...
Brent
 
Yep, those are the type I use! There's a travel one I like, called FoldSpear...has sections with a bungee cord running through them, sort of like tent poles...
 
Brent, I just came back from cudjoe key and the lobsters were awesome!!! but i told myself i'd never go back without a speargun!!! man, that was the best fishing ive ever done! more like catching than fishing :D And you're right about that pressure, I couldn't equalize either
 
Zombie, Cudjoe is real close to my stomping grounds... I was born in Marthon to a Park Ranger pop on Bahia Honda. As an adult I got to return with several local contacts and made No Name and Big Pine my home away from home... I can stay at the ol' wooden bridge fish camp (nice cabins) for $60 per night unless filled in advance... My hands have many hours or labor involved in hurricane George cleanup and repair... I can put you on inshore species and big game all around them islands... I learned to hunt large (5-9 footer) sharks with 2 inch live pinfish on sand bars of 18-2 feet deep! That is a blast on 15 pound gear!
Brent
 
I was mostly fishing off the mangroves and monkeys area, got some snapper before the barracuda started stealing them. thats when I longed for a spear!! Im from Leesburg, bout an hour north of orlando, but my girlfriend lives in vero beach, and Im out in sebastian all the time
 
There is a distintive difference between a Pole Spear and a Hawaiian Sling. The Hawaiian Sling uses a spear shaft with no rubber on it. The rubber is on an external handle that the shaft fits through.

The Pole Spear is self-contained. The rubber is attached to the spear shaft.

The Hawaiian Sling is a longer range weapon. The Pole Spear is limited to only a foot or so in front of the tip.
 
Addition to Doyle. A pole spear can be good to about 5 ft. A Hawaiian sling about twice that if the quarry is not very large.

I'm Bahamian, moved to Ft. Laud in the '60's.

Spearfishing is hunting the way that I do it.

Back in the '60's everybody was hot for sharks teeth and I worked hard to supply them for local artists. When you are diving unarmed the sharks find you an object of interest, throw in a CO2 'addict' speargun with a 12 Ga. powerhead and you become the apex predator. Somehow they can sense this and can be very difficult to hunt.
 
"Somehow they can sense this and can be very difficult to hunt."

YES! No humans can read body language better than animals can...amazing creatures they are...
 
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